New Player Guide: Social Features in World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is an Massively Multiplayer Online game. Many of the activities in-game are enhanced by doing them with friends! From completing a quest together to finding four other players to complete a challenging dungeon for better loot, World of Warcraft is a social experience. This guide explains how to make the most of your social experience in WoW.

Talking to Players

You can chat to players in game privately using whispers. All messages with players will show up by default at the bottom-left of your screen.

To whisper someone, hit the "Return" key, type "/tell" and then the name of the player. You can then type a message privately to that player. When you hit "Return" again, they will see the message. If you are already in a conversation with that person, you can just click on their name in the chat log and type your message back.

You can also communicate through says or yells. Avoid yelling because everyone in the zone will hear you. Whispers display as light pink, says are white, and yells are red.

Emotes

Another way of communicating with players is emotes. Instead of typing a sentence, you can type in a phrase and your in-game character will express that feeling through an animation and sound byte. For example, /cheer will have your character jump in the air and sound happy.

This sort of interaction is not private like whispers; nearby players can see your emotes (and decide to join in). Emotes are also required for some fun achievements, like A tutti gli animali che ho amato.

Creating A Party

You can form a party of up to 5 players in game. Parties are good if you need help completing an objective or need to meet up with a player:

If you are interested in running a dungeon and need a few more players, your party can queue up as a group.

You can see the location of other party members on the map.

By typing /party you can talk only to your group members. This chat will be light blue.

To form a party, either right-click on a player and hit the Invite option, or type /invite <playername> into chat. Only the leader of a party can invite.

Chat Channels and Tabs

You can join public chat channels in various zones, or set up a group chat with your friends in-game.

To join a channel, type "/join <name>." You will either join an existing channel with that name, or if there is no channel, start a new channel. Text from this channel will be in beige.

To leave a channel, type "/leave <name>"

To manage the chat channels you belong to, hit "O" and then go to the Chat Channel. You can see who belongs to each general channel, and hit the "Add" button to create your own chat channel. It can even be password protected.

Player Interactions

When you right-click on a player's name, a menu pops up with a number of options. Here's an overview.

Invite: invite a player to your party

Whisper: Lets you privately message a player

Inspect: Open up a character's gear profile so you can check out their gear

Compare Achievements: See how many in-game accomplishments you both have

Trade: Open a window with another player to give or receive items and gold

Follow: Need to step away from your computer for a minute? Put a friend on auto-follow if they are going to the same place

Duel: See which player is stronger in combat

Pet-Battle Duel: If you decide to collect pets later in the game, you can challenge a player's team of pets to combat

Friends List

If you enjoy interacting with someone, you can add them as a friend. The next time both of you are in-game at the same time, you can easily get in touch and plan something to do.

You can add someone to your friends list two ways: via their character name, or their Battle.net name.

If you add someone’s character name, you are only notified when that particular character logs onto WoW.

If you add someone’s Battle.tag, you'll know when they're online on any World of Warcraft character, or playing any other Blizzard game.

To add someone to your friends list:

In game, hit the letter "O".

Hit the red Add Friend button at the bottom left of your list, and then type in the character's name or Battle.tag.

Your friends list allows you to do the following:

Message a friend by highlighting their name and clicking on "Send Message."

Adding online friends to a group via the + icon to the right of their name. Be polite and ask first before doing so!

See what Blizzard games all of your Battletag friends are playing.

The Pending tab shows all of your own friend requests.

The speech bubble option at the top right allows you to set a status message. Looking for help? Set a status message asking for assistance and see if any friends reply.

Set your status to available (green), yellow (away), or red (busy), using the dropdown menu at the top right.

Right-click on a friend's name to bring up more options, such as setting a note so you remember details about your new friend, and viewing their friends so you can see if you share any acquaintances.

The ignore tab brings up all of the players you have muted. You will not see messages from these people.

Your Friends LIst comes with several other tabs:

The "Who" tab lets you query the names of players in a certain zone or guild. This is helpful if you are looking for assistance in an area, or want to join a guild and need to speak to an officer.

The chat tab brings up a list of chat channels you belong to, which is discussed below in more detail. There are several default ones you can belong to, like Trade Chat in a city, and you can also create your own custom channels to have small group conversations with friends.

The Raid tab is inactive unless you join a very large group at higher levels.

If you play other Blizzard games, you may be interested in setting up a Battletag and using the Battle.net-wide friends list. Here is a link to get the Battle.net App.

Single Sign-On: Log in once to access Blizzard games, and stay logged in for up to 30 days.

Install and Auto-Update Games: Install games directly through the app and, if you choose to leave the app running on your desktop, keep them up-to-date automatically even while you’re away from your computer.

Get the Latest News: The app serves as a central hub to find the latest Blizzard game information, developer blogs, and more. Filter news based on which games you play, and get breaking updates before you enter Azeroth, Sanctuary, or the Koprulu sector.

On the Battle.net App, you can see which of your friends is playing any Blizzard game. You can even message them if they're not playing the same game.

When you sign up for the Battle.net App, you will be prompted to create a Battle.tag. This is a name that your friends will see when you play any game. If a friend has a Battletag, they can tell when you play any character in WoW, not just one with a specific name.

A BattleTag™ is a player-chosen nickname that identifies your Battle.net account in our games, websites, community forums, and more. Only one BattleTag can be associated with a Battle.net account.

BattleTag friends are not available cross-region. You must add friends to each region’s friend list when you log in for the first time.

BattleTags do not need to be unique. You can use any name you want, as long as it follows our Naming Policy. Each BattleTag is assigned a numeric ID to create a unique identifier (for example, FallenSlayer#3592).

To change your BattleTag, log in to Battle.net Account Management, go to the Summary page, and click Change in the BattleTag section.

Guild Information

The best way to ensure you are surrounded by like-minded friendly players is to find a guild which suits your needs. A guild is an extended social network, where you can easily talk to other members and see who is available online. Members of your guild can help you with group challenges, items to wear, and general assistance.

Finding the right guild is important. Some players may spam you with guild invites when they see you are unguilded. You don't have to accept the first guild you find! Here are some ways to find a good guild:

Use Blizzard's in-game Guid Finder tool. To open this tool up, hit "J" in game.

On the Guild Finder page, you will be prompted to fill in some information about your playstyle:Guild Interests: Questing (leveling), Dungeons (group content), Raids (higher-level group content), PvP, and Role Playing

Availability: Weekdays and/or Weekends

Class Roles: Tank, Healer, or Damage.

You can also leave any additional comments.

Once you have submitted a guild query, interested guilds can leave invitations in the Requests tab in the Guild Finder.You can see a list of guilds in the "Browse" tab. Mouse over each guild to see their interests and number of members online. While it's better to do more guild research before asking to join, you can hit "Request Membership" if it looks like a good fit.You can also check the Guild Recruitment Forums on the official World of Warcraft site, or read channels like the Guild Recruitment Channel in game.

If you find a guild that seems interesting, check out their website and try to talk members of the guild, either online or on their website.To get an invitation to a guild, log online and message the officer of a guild for an invite. It is poor etiquette to message about an invite before speaking to an officer. You may be ignored.

There are many types of guilds, here are a few things to keep in mind so you find one that's a good fit:

Active users: Find a guild that has lots of players who enjoy logging on frequently!

Size: Some players prefer a guild with a handful of players they can know personally, others want to be part of a larger community where there's always someone online to help out.

Activities: Guilds specialize in different things, based on the interests of the officers. Some guilds are designed to be social or help other players level. Other guilds focus on advanced max-level activities, such as raiding.

Reputation: Similar to real-life organizations, guilds build up their reputation based on the actions of their users. Look for guilds that are friendly and are known for being stable and reliable.

Once you are part of a guild, be courteous and helpful! You will see guild chat appear in your chat box in green text. You can send message to everyone in guild by typing /g <message>.